posted at 10:01 am on August 8, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Theoretically, Senator John Walsh’s withdrawal from the 2014 election left the Democrats enough time to find another candidate to put on the ballot. They have until August 20th to nominate a candidate, so Montana Democrats don’t have to find a judge to allow a Torricelli Switch. With less than 90 days to go, however, no one seems to want the job, including the one man who would have given them the best opportunity to remain competitive:

Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer says he won’t run for U.S. Senate after Sen. John Walsh dropped his election campaign Thursday. …

Schweitzer announced that he wouldn’t run on Twitter and confirmed it to The Associated Press. He said in a Facebook post that he was flattered his name was considered, and that he’ll support whoever emerges as the candidate.

Earlier Thursday, Walsh said in a statement to supporters that he is leaving the race but will keep the seat he was appointed to until his term ends in January 2015.

This was Schweitzer’s second demurral. He had an opportunity to run for this seat long before Walsh got appointed to fill out the remainder of Max Baucus’ term and get a leg up on the midterms. Schweitzer passed at the time, as most presumed he wanted to run a populist campaign for President. Then came his “gaydar” comment about Eric Cantor and a few other impolitic bon mots, and now Schweitzer apparently just wants some obscurity for a while.

While Democrats in other parts of the country may breathe a sigh of relief for avoiding the burden of Schweitzer’s comments, their brethren in Montana have to lament losing their best shot at offering a competitive challenge to Steve Daines, who was favored to beat Walsh even before the plagiarism scandal. After Plan B collapsed, so did Plans C, D, and E, according to Rebecca Berg at the Washington Examiner:

The candidate will need to launch a campaign with only three months until Election Day, for a Senate seat most Democrats have given up on winning. “I think it’s accepted as a lost cause at this point,” said one Democratic strategist with ties to Montana.

These Democrats have said they won’t run, but at least some people in their party are floating the idea in one last effort to keep the Senate seat in play[.]

Berg goes down the speculative list that emerged when Walsh suspended his campaign earlier this week. EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock declined yesterday, while former NARAL president Nancy Keenan hasn’t commented. Keenan just came back to Montana after 13 years in Washington, though, and even while Allahpundit is correct in that the anti-abortion impulse may not be as strong in Montana, neither is NARAL’s abortion-on-demand-at-any-point absolutism, either. Berg notes two names not on Politico’s list, former legislators Carol and Pat Williams, who are also married to each other — and both of whom declined to jump in. The only name left besides Keenan is John Bohlinger, who couldn’t get to 25% in the Democratic primary this year.

At some point, Democrats have to give strong consideration to conceding the seat to Daines. He’s going to win it anyway, and putting up a candidate without any name power in Montana will force them to spend money on the race to maintain their credibility. Why waste the resources, especially for either a Democrat who lost by 50 points in his own party’s primary or for an all-but-carpetbagging abortion absolutist in a red state? Just tossing anyone up against Daines would have a strong whiff of desperation that might infect the rest of their races in Montana — especially if the nominee has to jump belatedly into a campaign and falls flat on his/her face. Schweitzer was their best opportunity to maintain the façade of credibility, even with the “gaydar” comments. They should take a hint from his withdrawal and cut their losses.

CNN’s panel notes that there wasn’t a rush to get in the race after Walsh’s exit:

Montana state Rep. Franke Wilmer (D) is moving towards a bid for Sen. John Walsh’s (D-Mont.) seat less than a day after Walsh announced he’s dropping his campaign.

Wilmer, who lost a 2012 House primary, is a Montana State University professor and favorite of some progressive activists in the state. She’d face very long odds of defeating Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who has run a strong campaign and led Walsh by large margins in recent polling.

That’s putting it mildly. Montana is already a deep-red state, where Democrats who appeal statewide usually take a centrist line. A progressive academic is about as good of a fit there as in, oh, Texas. Putting that kind of a candidate on the ticket in Montana might allow the GOP to nationalize the race in a way that will hurt supposed centrists in Georgia, Kentucky, and elsewhere, too, especially if she gets significant press.

Democrats have to make a choice at their August 16th convention. “None of the above” might still be their best option.

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I think Dems should encourage Walsh to reconsider. It was a research paper at the Army War College, it isn’t like it was a Harvard thesis or something important! A youthful indescretion that should be overlooked because of all the good work Walsh is doing on behalf of the folks in Montana.

In Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton has nothing but gibberish to add to the healthcare debate, refusing to answer clearly what he’d do to protect the people in his state that have so recently gained health insurance if his vision of repeal is realized.

And Sen. Mitch McConnell is, if anything, even more incoherent on Kentucky’s Obamcare program, Kynect.

Ned Pepper on August 7, 2014 at 9:19 PM

Now from DailyKos

In Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton has nothing but gibberish to add to the healthcare debate, refusing to answer clearly what he’d do to protect the people in his state that have so recently gained health insurance if his vision of repeal is realized. And Sen. Mitch McConnell is, if anything, even more incoherent on Kentucky’s Obamcare program, Kynect.

LOLOLOL….word for word.

Ded Pecker can’t even reword anything to even make it sound like an orginal thought. LOLOLOL

Respectfully disagree Ed. Schweitzers got a bunch of baggage…besides being a Jackaz.. He doesn’t want his false 501c etc to be even more exposed. The GOP has made it clear to him there is more.
I’m no fan of Brad Dayspring but you should check out his twitter…he’s been trolling the MT Dems…pretty funny.

Its nice to see that for once its a dim candidate that imploded. I think dims will concede and move on. Rd didn’t run anyone against Pryor in 2008, so it’s not as though this has never happened before.

Only one (a Native American D- senator was chosen to flee, they thought they could use the race card. guymissoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-state-sen-augare-charged-with-dui-obstruction/article_da91ea8e-dabf-11e2-b3bd-0019bb2963f4.html

Speaking of carpet bagging…. This Frankie woman.. I had to look her up by the way … Born in DC…PhDs in Maryland… Progressive to the max. They are going for the college vote, you know the ones that vote in two or more states.

I checked her out on Wikipedia. She’s a member of the Montana Federation of Teachers, Montana Education Association AND the AFL-CIO. Sucking off the public teat since 1991 at MSU and the State Legislature since 2007. That’s double-dipping, taking more of her “fair share”, IMHO. She’s “a single mother” (no mention of ever being married), and she’s involved in “human rights”. She looks like a real dyed-in-the-wool libturd. Just what the state and the country needs./SARC

Montana Democrats don’t have to find a judge to allow a Torricelli Switch.

Only republicans knew about the Torricelli switch, the media did not actually report it that way, they said the republicans in NJ were DISENFRANCHISING democrats by running a candidate for election,when democrats were unhappy with the one they had chosen; when the democrats candidate had some problems with rumored campaign contributions from North Korea.

It was an October surprise, the candidate was losing and might be in trouble with the law after the election, and polling showed that voters knew he was getting funding from a person with ties to the North Korean Communist regime. He was losing so he “stepped out” of the race. The ballots were ready to go, and democrats would only see Torricelli on the ballot. The democrats demanded another new candidate even though the time had past for choosing theirs. The law indicated that Torricelli was their candidate. So, they took it to a judge and said they were being DISENFRANCHISED.”

They cried and whined and got a judge to let them put a candidate of their choice in his place. Without a primary, nothing customary about it, if your candidate is losing, you can get a new one.

Putting that kind of a candidate on the ticket in Montana might allow the GOP to nationalize the race in a way that will hurt supposed centrists in Georgia, Kentucky, and elsewhere, too, especially if she gets significant press.

Well let’s hope so, because there is nothing “centrist” about Grimes or Nunn.

Who? Dirk Adams was on Talk Back Montana radio program this morning and he’s salivating over being the chosen one. He claims to be more to the left on positions than Walsh. Goody! And a bigger environmentalist. All he could talk about was the superfund site in Butte, called Berkley Pit. It is very bad but none of the D govs or senators has tried to do anything about it for decades. Adams lost to Walsh in the primary and all I remember of him is that when questioned he said he didn’t know enough about that point to have formed an opinion. Well, he is a lawyer and graduated from TADA Harvard Law. He’s also the largest pig farmer in MT.